Coconut and the front garden

[gsn]

You might not want that plastic actually TOUCHING the leaflets on that coconut,as this will exacerbate any damage from cold/freezing temps!

The plastic will trap some heat inside, but because of plastics proporties when it actually comes in contact with the foliage it will do more damage than if it wasn't there. The plastic radiates heat into the atmosphere faster than the actual plant tissue would,much like car hoods,(although not as much as metal)so both plastic and metal surfaces get colder than the surrounding air. So anything in contact with the plastic will actually be colder than the surrounding air! Something you might want to consider!

Edited May 23, 2010 by gsn

[freakypalmguy]

You might not want that plastic actually TOUCHING the leaflets on that coconut,as this will exacerbate any damage from cold/freezing temps!

The plastic will trap heat,but because of plastics proporties when it actually comes in contact with the foliage it will do more damage than if it wasn't there. Something you might want to consider!

I concur on this, I've damaged a bunch of stuff just laying plastic or even frost cloth right on the foliage. It burns the foliage that is in contact with it to a crisp. My little foxy lady looks really bad from this and I had a mild winter last year.

BTW, your place looks great Tyrone, look forward to seeing more pictures of it.

Matt

Edited May 23, 2010 by freakypalmguy

[BS Man about Palms]

Missed this the first time around. Good on you, Tyrone!

[Zeeth]

Nice pics, hopefully that coconut lives a long and healthy life!

[mcwolf]

Hi Tyrone,

nice garden and a really strong coconut. I wished I'd had a pinate one, too. Mine doesn't want to split its leaves, yet.

Your structure looks cosy and since it survived for the last 2 winter I don't know why it shouldn't pull through this one.

We had a good taste of winter in May already with almost 100mm of rain and temperatures down to 9 degrees Celcius. My green coco took a knock and got some minor leave spots.

I also envy your Foxy Ladies. I've got a big Foxtail in the driveway but those Foxies look more like Veitchia and hence more tropical. I'd buy them right away if I just could get them.

Let's hope like every year for a mild winter.

Cheers,

Wolfe

[Tyrone]

You might not want that plastic actually TOUCHING the leaflets on that coconut,as this will exacerbate any damage from cold/freezing temps!

The plastic will trap heat,but because of plastics proporties when it actually comes in contact with the foliage it will do more damage than if it wasn't there. Something you might want to consider!

I concur on this, I've damaged a bunch of stuff just laying plastic or even frost cloth right on the foliage. It burns the foliage that is in contact with it to a crisp. My little foxy lady looks really bad from this and I had a mild winter last year.

BTW, your place looks great Tyrone, look forward to seeing more pictures of it.

Matt

Yes, thanks guys, that is a good point. It's a risk I've taken, but that area even without plastic on the coldest night of the year wouldn't drop below 3C (37F). What the plastic is designed to do is heat a pocket of air around the palm through the day, and stop the cooler winds from blowing it away from the palm. Coconuts are actually quite leaf hardy but not very root hardy if you know what I mean. There's only a couple of leaves actually touching the plastic and they're the oldest leaves. If we averaged 22C (70F) through winter I wouldn't cover it at all. It's not so much a frost protection thing as I don't get frost. It's a daytime temp amplifier. When I completely covered it before, the leaves which contacted the plastic got a bit fried due to the daytime heat. It sunburnt in winter on those leaves. They were probably a bit too close to the plastic. It can get into the 40'sC on a sunny winters day in there, at least when it was fully covered. Now it has a hole in the roof the leaves can go out and meet the elements a bit more. I just checked it, and it grew another 0.5cm overnight after a low around 7C but a low of around 10C in the enclosure.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

Hi Tyrone,

nice garden and a really strong coconut. I wished I'd had a pinate one, too. Mine doesn't want to split its leaves, yet.

Your structure looks cosy and since it survived for the last 2 winter I don't know why it shouldn't pull through this one.

We had a good taste of winter in May already with almost 100mm of rain and temperatures down to 9 degrees Celcius. My green coco took a knock and got some minor leave spots.

I also envy your Foxy Ladies. I've got a big Foxtail in the driveway but those Foxies look more like Veitchia and hence more tropical. I'd buy them right away if I just could get them.

Let's hope like every year for a mild winter.

Cheers,

Wolfe

Hi Wolfe,

Coconuts harden up as they get older I think. You've had more rain than us, and have had warmer nights too by the sounds of it. We've been drier and down to 2.5C already. On that night the coconut didn't see below 7C and grew 0.5cm. On Sat we had 39mm of rain, and a day that didn't really see the sun and was mostly around 17C before peaking around 20C and the coconut grew about 2cm overnight. It must have liked the drink. Make sure you keep your coconut on the dryish side too. With 100mm of rain he may have got too wet.

I love my Foxy Ladies too. Definitely not easy to come by now. They're the fastest thing I've ever grown. Hopefully one day they'll set viable seed.

I hope we have a mild winter too. June is meant to be really wet this year. We'll see.

Best regards

Tyrone

[mcwolf]

That's great growth especially for this time of the year. I hardly have anything so far which grows on a monthly average of 2cm. Thanks for setting the bar so high...